High blood pressure is defined as a systolic pressure greater than 140 or diastolic pressure greater than 90.

Unfortunately, most people with high blood pressure feel no symptoms. Many many not even be aware they have high blood pressure.

While there are several safe and affective prescription medicines available, there are also some lifestyle changes which can reduce your risk and even improve high blood pressure.

• Have it checked regularly – many pharmacies and retail stores have free blood pressure machines. You can also purchase an at-home machine for under $50. Recently, several companies have even released blood pressure devices which work with your mobile smart phones – iPhones and Androids – and let you track your blood pressure over time.
• Regular exercise – walking, jogging, or more is one of the best ways to combat many health issues, including high blood pressure.
• Reduce salt intake – remember, salt doesn’t just come from the shaker on the table. Many processed and prepared foods are high in sodium as a preservative and flavor enhancer. Be sure to read labels and try and stay below 2,400 milligrams - thats just a little more than a teaspoon of salt!
• Talk to your doctor about your blood pressure. If you haven’t had a physical or check up in the last 12 months, it may be time to schedule one.

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Lighten Up is a Mind-Body weight loss clinic, which is offered several times a year, focused on providing interdisciplinary support to participants desiring to make a commitment to lifestyle modification.

Previously in this blog series, we’ve looked at cardiac risk factors – what they are and why we should care about them. We also took a peek at some of the emerging, newer risk factors. While those hold a lot of interest for folks, so far the “tried and true” methods of decreasing risk appear to hold the greatest benefits. This time, let’s look a little closer at the ones that put us at greatest risk.

Tobacco Smoke Exposure:

Smokers’ risk of developing coronary heart disease is two to four times that of non-smokers. People who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day have more than twice the risk of heart attack than people who’ve never smoked. Exposure to other people’s smoke increases the risk of heart disease even for nonsmokers. Enough said!

High Blood Pressure or Hypertension (HTN):

• 50 million Americans have HTN
• Risk factor for both heart disease and stroke
• Known as the ‘silent killer’ because there are no symptoms
• In 90-95% of HTN cases, the cause is unknown
• Blood Pressure Goal:  < 120/80 mm/hg or lower

Elevated Cholesterol (Lipids):

• Over half of all American adults have elevated cholesterol (above 200 mg/dl)
• The higher your cholesterol, the higher your heart disease risk!
• Lipid Goals
  • Total cholesterol   < 200 mg/dl
  • HDL cholesterol     > 40 mg/dl- male & > 50mg/dl – female
  • LDL cholesterol      < 100 mg/dl (no CAD) & < 70 mg/dl (CAD)
  • Triglycerides            < 150 mg/dl

Remember, knowing your risk doesn’t automatically decrease your risk. But taking just one action today can decrease your risk.

For more information on the Lighten Up program, visit the Cardiac Wellness page on www.bonsecours.com or call 804-287-7158.

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Lighten Up is a Mind-Body weight loss clinic, which is offered several times a year, focused on providing interdisciplinary support to participants desiring to make a commitment to lifestyle modification.

We realize that some people try to reduce their stress by overeating, or by eating highly pleasurable treats. Although common sense tells us that our stress will only be made worse by unhealthy eating, we want to emphasize the importance of approaching stress with healthy changes rather than unhealthy ones. When feeling stressed, the best steps a person can usually take do not involve food. They involve physical relaxation and deliberate focus on breathing and on releasing stressful thoughts. If we look at preventing stress (rather than reducing it once it has already occurred), there are many more potential food-related options.

• If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.
• Healthful foods + Healthful behaviors = Healthful Outcomes

Healthful foods AND healthful behaviors. If you take either one of those out of the equation it just doesn’t add up.

Stomach Hunger vs. Head Hunger FAQ

Strategies

For more information on the Lighten Up program, visit the Cardiac Wellness page on www.bonsecours.com or call 804-287-7158.

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Lighten Up is a Mind-Body weight loss clinic, which is offered several times a year, focused on providing interdisciplinary support to participants desiring to make a commitment to lifestyle modification.

Eating out can be a hassle when watching your weight, but not always. Often there are restaurant “food traps” that we can fall in, but if we are proactive and have food strategies, we can avoid these “traps.”

What is a restaurant food trap?

Dining Out Strategies for Success (Yes! You Can Do It!)

For more information on the Lighten Up program, visit the Cardiac Wellness page on www.bonsecours.com or call 804-287-7158.

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Lighten Up is a Mind-Body weight loss clinic, which is offered several times a year, focused on providing interdisciplinary support to participants desiring to make a commitment to lifestyle modification.

“The spirit and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur.”   -Vince Lombardi

Only 20-25% of adults in this country do enough physical activity/exercise to gain any significant health benefit. The top five reasons for not being physically active or exercising include being too busy or lazy, pain, no time or too much work needs to be done.

Many individuals have acquired maladaptive perceptions of physical activity or exercise from past experiences. Most of these perceptions are not grounded in a healthy self-awareness.

How can we change our perceptions about physical activity and exercise? We can incorporate these elements into our exercise routines:

• Holistic approach
• Accountability
• Enjoyment

The Western approach is very physically focused. With this mindset the emphasis is on burning calories, losing weight, increasing heart rate, walking a certain pace and lifting a certain amount of weight.

Another approach to physical activity and exercise is the mind/body approach, which centers around these tenets:

• Mood
• Awareness of physical sensations
• Feeling better
• Mindfulness

This “Mind/Body” approach can bring true health, rather than “fitness,” as well as a sense of “contentment” and “well-being” prevails.

Four Methods for Getting a Mind/Body Workout

1. Relaxation
2. Imagery
3. Self-talk
4. Goal setting

For more information on the Lighten Up program, visit the Cardiac Wellness page on www.bonsecours.com or call 804-287-7158.

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As the week comes to a close and we begin to think forward to our weekend plans, let’s take a moment to review our Cardiac Words of the Week.

Da Vinci minimally invasive surgery: the most advanced surgical robotic system available for more precise heart surgeries, resulting in less trauma for the patients, shorter hospital stays, less pain and faster recovery times

Electrophysiology Lab: a lab with highly advanced equipment designed to diagnose and treat abnormal heart rhythms

Triglyceride: the most common fatty substance found in food and in the body, stored as an energy source in fat tissue

Cholesterol: a soft, waxy substance that is used by our bodies to keep us healthy

Atrial fibrillation: Fast and irregular contractions of the atrium, the top chamber of the heart

Worried about your heart disease risk? Take a free, online HeartAware risk assessment of your current cardiovascular health, as well as learn about resources available through the Bon Secours Heart & Vascular Institute by clicking here.

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Lighten Up is a Mind-Body weight loss clinic, which is offered several times a year, focused on providing interdisciplinary support to participants desiring to make a commitment to lifestyle modification. The following is an excerpt from a presentation given by Jo Ann Bibbs, Wellness Clinician, on stress management.

In Lighten Up this week, Jo Ann spoke about cognitive restructuring or how to change our thoughts to decrease stress.

When we are aware these behaviors, we can take conscious action to help correct our thinking. Often, simply being aware of how we perceive a situation can help reduce stress. Look at the list below, pick an example of a negative reaction such as mind reading, perceiving to know what someone else is thinking. When we find ourselves mind reading, being aware can help us pause and approach the situation with a more positive outlook, thereby reducing stress. Instead of mind reading, we can try to identify our own concerns about the issue, or focus on positive themes.

Use the list below to help identify some stressful behaviors and next time you feel your blood pressure rising, stop and think if it is because of a cognitive distortion. Give it a try this week!

Cognitive distortions include:

All or Nothing:  Things are black or white.

Overgeneralization:  Like All or Nothing, but applied to others.

Mental Filter: Thought big picture is good, you focus on what’s not ideal.

Disqualifying the Positive: An inability to accept praise.

Mind Reading:   Perceiving to know what someone else is thinking.

Fortune Telling:  Predicts negative outcomes before there is sufficient information to do so reasonably.

Magnification:  Like Fortune Telling, but the outcome is on the level of a catastrophe.

Emotional Reasoning:  Thoughts based on belief of an emotion that has become habit and is felt out of proportion to the actual situation.

Should Statements:  The use of harsh language (should, ought, must, have to, try) that leave you feeling inadequate.

Labeling:  Limits a person to a mere behavior or characteristic at a given point in time.

Personalization:  Accepting more than your fair responsibility for a problem.

Perfectionism:  Holding yourself or others to unrealistic standards of behavior.

Approval Seeking:  Neglecting your own needs to gain the approval of others.

Self Righteous:  Not only is something unjust, but the perpetrator of the injustice should be punished.

For more information on the Lighten Up program, visit the Cardiac Wellness page on www.bonsecours.com or call 804-287-7158.

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As the week comes to a close and we begin to think forward to our weekend plans, let’s take a moment to review our Cardiac Words of the Week.

Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD): a battery-operated, mechanical pumping device that is surgically implanted when the heart can’t effectively pump blood on its own

Radial Arm Catheterization: a new angioplasty procedure using a stent inserted through the arm or wrist – versus the more invasive approach through the femur — to restore blood flow in a clogged artery

Cardiac MRI: a non-invasive imaging technique that creates pictures of the beating heart and major blood vessels, which aids in diagnosing and treating heart conditions

Cryoablation: a new treatment for a type of atrial fibrillation, using a balloon-based technology that is safer, faster and easier than previous treatments

Worried about your heart disease risk? Take a free, online HeartAware risk assessment of your current cardiovascular health, as well as learn about resources available through the Bon Secours Heart & Vascular Institute by clicking here.

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Lighten Up is a Mind-Body weight loss clinic, which is offered several times a year, focused on providing interdisciplinary support to participants desiring to make a commitment to lifestyle modification.

According to Walter Willett, M.D. and the Harvard Medical School, the seven healthiest changes you can make in your diet are:

• Watch your weight
• Eat fewer bad fats and more good fats
• Eat fewer refined-grain carbohydrates and more whole-grain carbohydrates
• Choose healthier sources of proteins
• Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, but hold the potatoes
• Use alcohol in moderation
• Take a multivitamin for insurance

Similarly, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 edition, encompasses their key recommendations into 2 overarching concepts: 1)  maintain a calorie balance over time to achieve and sustain a healthy weight and 2) focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages.

According to the Dietary Guidelines:

• To lose weight and improve their health, many Americans must decrease the calories they consume and increase the calories they expend through physical activity.
• A healthy eating pattern limits intake of sodium, solid fats (saturated & trans fats), added sugars, and refined grains and emphasizes nutrient-dense foods and bever­ages—vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products, seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, and nuts and seeds.

To help translate the Dietary Guidelines into the kinds and amounts of food to eat each day, visit www.mypyramid.gov.

For more information on the Lighten Up program, visit the Cardiac Wellness page on www.bonsecours.com or call 804-287-7158.

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Lighten Up is a Mind-Body weight loss clinic, which is offered several times a year, focused on providing interdisciplinary support to participants desiring to make a commitment to lifestyle modification. The following is from a presentation by our stress management specialist, Jo Ann Bibb, MS.

Mindfulness is the practice of non-judgmental awareness. It is paying attention to all aspects of an experience. It is noticing the present environment. It is noticing how you are — mentally, physically and emotionally—in this environment.

A great example of practicing being mindful is in your eating habits. Being aware of what you’re eating and how it relates to how full you feel afterward is key. Here are a few tips to consider when practicing mindful eating.

PAUSE and be fully present to your experience.

NOTICE your breath.

NOTICE sensations in the body.

NOTICE the food in front of you … the colors, the aromas and the texture.

THINK about all the people and the possible steps involved in bringing this food to you.

1. Place a bit of food in your mouth.
2. Notice how the food rests in the mouth and on the tongue.
3. Notice the taste and texture.
4. Chew slowly … notice how the taste and texture changes.
5. Pause … take a breath before the next bite.
6. Repeat 1-5.

PAUSE … notice your level of satisfaction.

STOP before you are full.

For more information on the Lighten Up program, visit the Cardiac Wellness page on www.bonsecours.com or call 804-287-7158.

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